West Indies vs India, 2nd ODI at Port of Spain, WI v IND, Jul 24 2022 - Ball by Ball Commentary

It seems the exhilaration levels of this series has been dialed up to seventeen in this series. West Indies are 0-2 down but it's not hard for them to have been 2-0. Towards the end, this game was lost due to a couple of bowling errors which weighed down on them and deny the team a series-levelling win. But they stayed in it for a long time. Spare a thought for Shai Hope who got a 100 on his 100th ODI. The upside is he'll get another chance to make a mark on his 101st outing. That'll come in a couple of days, we'll see you there. For now, it's goodbye from me, Ekanth, my co-commentator Himanshu Agrawal, and our scorer, Thilak.

Stat from Sampath: Most runs chased successfully in the last 10 overs (41-50) in Men's ODIs since 2001:

109 - Pakistan vs Bangladesh, Mirpur 2014

102 - New Zealand vs Australia, Christchurch 2005

101 - New Zealand vs Ireland, Dublin 2022

100 - India vs West Indies, Port of Spain 2022

India's previous highest was 91 runs against Zimbabwe in the 2015 World Cup

SaraT: "1 bad over from A.Joseph costed game for WI, if not things could have been different for them, well played WI though"

Romarsha: "Maybe India takes all the luck from bilateral series and none is left in ICC tournaments "

Prasu KL: "Regardless of the result, WI must feel really proud with the way they played and fought till the last ball in both these games. They must not be disheartened "

Jeetu Sangwani: "India wins coz may-errs"

Shikhar Dhawan, India Captain: I feel it was a great a team performance. We made mistakes, we took the challenge and we had self-belief. I was also surprised. Hats off to our middle order. All the batters were amazing, Axar and Avesh, who got those boundaries, were amazing. Our domestic and IPL cricket keeps us ready as we play in front of big crowds. As Axar said, he's done it multiple times in IPL. That brings a big stage. At the halfway stage, we felt we pulled them. We got a couple of wickets, then Hope and Pooran took off. We thought we can do it if they can. We started slowly, I thought we can take off against left arm spin. I got out, Shreyas and Sanju played well. There was a silly mistake with the run out. But the way Axar played was amazing. Our support staff has been excellent. (On Hope) It was great when I scored a 100 on my 100th match. Congrats to Hope on doing it, he's a quality player. He's got a bright present and future with West Indies.

Nicholas Pooran, West Indies Captain: We lost it in the last overs, Axar played well and we didn't hold our nerves. We could not keep things down in the last five overs. We felt that it got easier to hit spinners. And we gambled with Akeal bowling against left handers. One wicket would have opened up things but Axar played brilliantly. Hope's innings was impressive, it was exceptional as a batting group. We wanna win, we wanna win pretty bad in the next game. That's all we are aiming for.

Axar Patel, POTM for 1 for 40 and 64* (35): It's very special, to get it in a crucial, series-winning cause is amazing. When I went out, I aimed for 10-11 an over. We thought it could be done as we have IPL experience. We wanted to be calm and keep cover of the rate. This was special as this is my first ODI since 2017, even my first fifty came here. Winning the series too makes me feel wonderful.

6:22 pm: Axar is still in smiles as he's greeted by his team-mates as he walks back. He's turned this one. India started well despite Dhawan's low scoring, Gill got off the blocks. Iyer and Samson consolidated and their wickets signalled trouble. Every bowler aside from Hayden Walsh, who bowled only three, were among the wickets. Shepherd and Seales hit their lengths consistently, Alzarri was excellent till his last two overs. His leakage of runs put India back in. There were ample turning points and potential moments of truth. Gill's hard-to-comprehend scoop, Samson's run out, Hooda's wicket after being unable to launch big shots. But Axar stood tall, Avesh got lucky breaks with swings falling in gaps, bowlers going wrong in a couple of overs and it almost inexplicably finished with India winning.

Arun Prakash: " Sixar Patel! What a finish! "

6 off 3. One hit or one wicket could clear the game.

King and Pooran chat with Mayers. He comes in with four deep fielders leg side.

Around

Packie Chan: "Axar batting sensibly...waiting for the last over!" It's time. The artificial lights are on.

8 off 6, two wickets in hand. Mayers it will be for his first time bowling the final over in an LOI.

Mit Thakkar: "SUPER OVER!!!!!"

Dhairya: "Axar is not framing strike properly? May be he want Avesh to hit 2 or 3 before holding out?" He's framing the innings by outsourcing hitting responsibilities.

Chintan : "Who bowls the Final over if required!!!" Mayers is my guess but they might gamble with a spinner.

Zafar: "Important 49th over for seales" Could not overstate it.

Alzarri and Shepherd are done. Seales to start his final over

Essentially a free hit.

19 off 18, three wickets in hand. 81 in the last seven.